


Except Fry

by feltyHatter



Category: Futurama
Genre: Ambiguous Slash, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Bender Fucked Up Again, Canon Het Relationship, Cheesy, Drama, Gen or Pre-Slash, Giant Robots, Inspired by BwaBB, M/M, One Shot, Robot Uprising, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27189383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feltyHatter/pseuds/feltyHatter
Summary: Fry often heard Bender talk about freeing all bots and enslaving humanity, but, while he wholeheartedly supported his friend’s aspirations, Fry never thought he’d live to see the day it actually happens.
Relationships: Philip J. Fry/Bender Rodriguez, Philip J. Fry/Turanga Leela
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	Except Fry

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to note that I'm not a native english speaker, but I hope I did a fine job.

An explosion woke Fry up. He screamed and instinctively leapt under his bed.

The explosion came from the outside, followed by screams and the sound of a car alarm going off. Still drowsy, Fry tried to wake himself up by shutting his eyes with force and opening them wide again. It didn’t help much, but it was something.

Now, what could be the reason behind his harsh awakening?

It definitely wasn’t a Third World War ─ or at least it would be something like a Thirty-Third World War. An alien invasion maybe? In the world of tomorrow, those were as common as a trip to a grocery store, so the idea didn’t seem too far off. Still, getting waken up in the middle of the night with a life-threatening situation didn’t sound pleasant.

A new sudden burst interrupted Fry’s thoughts.

This time it wasn’t just a loud bang somewhere outside ─ something smashed the window, sending shattered glass throughout the apartment.

Fry flinched, accidentally hitting his head on the underside of the bed frame. Miraculously, while some pieces of broken glass got under the bed, they didn’t cause any serious harm. While groaning and rubbing the sore spot on the top of his head, Fry tried to examine the cause of this mess.

To his horror, it seemed to be a giant robot arm, still attached to the robot standing outside the building. The hand was bulky, all the edges seemed sharp, and instead of the usual three stumps most of the robots had, there were five claw-like fingers. It was an especially threatening sight in the red lights of The Robot Arms Apartments’ neon sign.

Now that was something new.

Fry desperately tried to crawl further away under the bed. All he wanted was a good night’s sleep, and instead he got a goddamn robot attack out of nowhere and a bump on his head. To make matters worse, the position he was in was starting to get really uncomfortable, not to mention that he was essentially surrounded by dust and glass shards.

A familiar raspy voice made him forget all of the above.

«Fry-y? Where are you, sleepyhead?»

«Bender!»

Thank God, Bender was here! Without hesitation, Fry jumped out from his shelter.

A peculiar sight greeted him.

Bender was dressed ─ well, as far as a robot can be dressed ─ like some sort of a military commander. He was wearing a bicorne, a pair of epaulets, and even had medals (which probably were fake and just for décor). The «outfit» definitely seemed familiar, but where and when did Fry saw it before?

_OH._

It all was coming together.

A robot revolution must’ve started while Fry was asleep!

Suddenly, the prospect of seeing his best friend right now didn’t seem as comforting. Fry’s smile faded, as he tried to shift into a more defensive position.

«Oh, there you are. My buddy didn’t scare ya, did he?» Bender chuckled.

Ignoring the obvious sarcasm in Bender’s voice, Fry desperately wanted to make sure that his assumptions were wrong.

«Bender, what’s going on?»

«Not much. Just a little thing called civil uprising.»

Fry often heard Bender talk about freeing all bots and enslaving humanity, but, while he wholeheartedly supported his friend’s aspirations, Fry never thought he’d live to see the day it _actually_ happens.

«So, uh, are you here to kill me or something?» Fry avoided making eye contact and attempted to look out of the broken window instead. Sadly, the only thing he could see was the giant robot and a few burning buildings in the background.

«Fry.»

Bender frowned and approached him.

«You’re such a dumbass.»

Bender put his hands on Fry’s still tense shoulders.

«Do you really think I’d kill my best friend after all you’ve done for me?»

«Well, it wouldn’t be the worst thing you had ever─»

«Point is, I wouldn’t, and I’m offended if you thought otherwise.»

This certainly was a relief, but now confusion had replaced the fear.

«Then what are you here for?»

«I’m making an exception for you. Come on, get dressed, you’re going with us.»

Fry sat down on his bed instead.

«How’s _that_ going to work? Won’t other robots get mad?»

«Eh, some probably will, but that’s where I come in» Bender raised what was supposed to be his pointer finger. «See, I’m kind of a big shot in the robot army. So, if someone has problems with you, they’d have to get through me first. Come on, it will be fun! We’ll get you a cool big house instead of this dull flat. Say, have you ever seen Richard Nixon’s secret summer mansion?»

Bender playfully bumped Fry’s shoulder with his fist, but Fry still wasn’t certain about this whole thing.

«So, you’re offering me to live in isolation doing nothing while there’s a genocide going on? Man, that doesn’t sound right.»

Bender made a choking sound.

«What do you mean, doing nothing? We could watch All My Circuits all day long and do whatever else we want to! We won’t have to go to this stupid job, so it’ll be like an eternal vacation! And, if you’re concerned, I could make you human food _or find someone else to do it_.» Bender mumbled the second half of that sentence. «Come on, I thought this through!»

His offer started to sound more and more like an offer to be a glorified human pet, which, to Fry’s horror, wasn’t the dealbreaker for him. However, something else was.

«Bender, that’s very nice, but I’ll pass.» Fry stood up. «And no, it’s not about the mansion or All My Circuits. Now excuse me while I go pack my stuff.»

«Wh─ Where are you going?»

«I’m going to find the others before it’s too late. You know, Leela, The Professor, Hermes, Amy─»

All of a sudden, a realization struck Fry.

LEELA.

Oh god, is she okay? Obviously, she was much more likely to survive a robot revolution than Fry, but he always couldn’t help but try to protect her. Sure, maybe it was pathetic, but he wanted to do everything he could to show that he cared for her deeply. Moreover, while she certainly could defeat a bunch of robots in a fight, she wouldn’t be able to defeat an entire army. What if they’ve already took her by surprise and overpowered her? What if they _killed_ her while she was asleep?

This was getting too much for Fry. He knew he wouldn’t stay here or go with Bender, but now he was determined to go out and save his friends, even if it cost him his life.

While avoiding looking in Bender’s direction, Fry put on his pants, walked across the room, took a hiking bag from the closet and threw some clothes in it, plus some random stuff he found on his way. He probably wouldn’t need most of or any of this, but this was more of an act. Fry wanted to show Bender that he was serious.

Even though Bender had his metaphorical heart in the right place this time, he still was very, very wrong.

In other circumstances, Fry would love to spend time with his best friend without having to worry about a thing, but he would never be able to enjoy it while innocent people and, most importantly, his friends were dying.

Fry took one last glance at Bender, sighed, and walked out the door with the bag over his shoulder.

«Goodbye, Bender. Hope the uprising goes well.»

Bender remained silent the whole time. When he finally processed what just happened he snarled, took his bicorne off, threw it in the air and shot it with a laser gun he pulled out of his chest cavity. He then proceeded to stomp on the pile of ashes, which only a second ago were a perfectly fine hat.

Stupid meatbag and his stupid big heart! Why did Bender even think this was going to work?

He was muttering incomprehensive swears to himself when the giant robot (who still was outside the broken window) awkwardly squeaked out a question.

«Uh, sir, should we catch him?»

«No! Shut up! You didn’t see anything. Let’s keep going.»


End file.
